Bueller? Bueller?

Long time, no post.  I must apologize for my prolonged absence.  Having a single parent summer, and then starting a new full time teaching position has made it next to impossible to document the insanity that I encounter on a daily basis. 

Let's recap, shall we.

Mike left.
The boys and I finished up the school year, traveled this great land of ours, and made wonderful memories with grandparents and aunts.  We made it from South Carolina to Arizona to Michigan.  We swam in two of the Great Lakes, jet skied, and saw the rings and one moon (possibly two) of Saturn.  We tractored.  We Gatored.  We roller coastered.  We paraded.  We water parked.  We had tonsils removed.  Matty ate.  No, really.  He does that now.  I interviewed.  I got a new job.  We played.  We worked.  We mowed.  We pruned.  We harvested homegrown watermelons. 

But all the while, we missed Mike.

Then, he left Iraq.

And got diverted to Italy instead of Spain. Something about Greeks.  Then, he climbed a volcano, and it started erupting.  And went cliff diving.  And got stern lectures from me, including the words, "So help me, if you have safely made it out of a combat zone only to die on a volcano...". Then he made it to Spain.  Then across the Atlantic.

And then he made it home.

And, even though it was a long four months, it also felt like he hadn't been gone a day!  We were so happy to have him back!  We celebrated by spending some time in the Lowcountry at Edisto.

And here is a random picture of the boys in their school uniforms on Mitch's first Mass day at school.

So, that is it for now.  See you in another four months!!!